Four Techniques for Narrowing a Broad Topic

1
Four Techniques for Narrowing a Broad Topic

• Examine your own interest in the subject.
• Perform secondary research to learn more about
  the issues.
• Narrow the topic by subject, time, place, or
  event.
• Formulate a research question.

2
Three Factors to Use in Determining What Kind of
Information You Need for Your Document

• your audience
• your purpose
• your subject

3
Steps in Planning a Research Strategy

• Work out a schedule and a budget for the project
  that requires the research.
• Visualize the deliverable.
• Determine what information will need to be part
  of that deliverable.
• Determine what information you still need to
  acquire.

4
Steps in Planning a Research Strategy (cont.)

• Create questions you need to answer.
• Conduct secondary research.
• Conduct primary research.
• Evaluate your information.
• Do more research.

5
Media Used to Publish Information

• print
• online databases
• digital disks, such as CD-ROM
• Web sites
• online discussion groups

6
Two Major Forums for Online Discussions

• usenet newsgroups
• electronic mailing lists

7
Basic Research Tools

• online catalogs
• reference works
• periodical indexes
• newspaper indexes
• abstract services

8
Types of Primary Research

• inspections
• experiments
• field research
• interviews
• letters of inquiry
• surveys / questionnaires

9
In choosing a person to interview, determine
three things

• what you want to find out
• who could provide this information
• whether the person is willing to be interviewed

10
Preparing for the Interview

• Do your homework.
• Prepare good questions.
• Check your equipment.

11
Beginning the Interview

• Arrive on time.
• Thank the respondent for taking the time to talk
  with you.
• State the subject and purpose of the interview
  and what you plan to do with the information.
• If you wish to tape the interview, ask permission.

12
Conducting the Interview

• Take notes.
• Start with prepared questions.
• Be prepared to ask follow-up questions.
• Be prepared to get the interview back on track.

13
Concluding the Interview

• Thank the respondent.
• Ask for a follow-up interview.
• Ask for permission to quote the respondent.

14
After the Interview

• Write down the important information while the
  interview is fresh in your mind.
• Send a brief thank-you note.

15
Three Reasons Why Questionnaires Rarely Yield
Completely Satisfactory Results

• Some of the questions will misfire.
• You won't obtain as many responses as you want.
• You cannot be sure the respondents are
  representative.

16
To build an effective questionnaire, keep the
following in mind

• Use unbiased language.
• Be specific.
• Choose a format that allows easy evaluation and
  tabulation of the results.

17
If your library does not have an article you
want, you can use one of two techniques for
securing it

• interlibrary loan
• document-delivery services

18
Three Most Important Indexed U.S. Newspapers

• The New York Times
• The Christian Science Monitor
• The Wall Street Journal

19
To skim a book effectively, read the following

• the preface and introduction
• the acknowledgments section
• the table of contents
• the notes at the ends of chapters or at the end
  of the book
• the index
• a few paragraphs from different portions of the
  text

20
To skim an article effectively, read the
following

• the abstract
• the introduction
• the notes and references
• the headings and several of the paragraphs

21
Bibliographic Information to Record for a Book

• author
• title
• publisher
• place of publication
• year of publication
• call number

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Bibliographic Information to Record for an
Article

• author
• title of the article
• title of the periodical
• volume
• number
• date of publication
• pages on which the article appears
• call number of the periodical

23
Knowing how to paraphrase,quote, and summarize
is important for two reasons

• To a large extent, the work you do at this point
  will determine the quality of your finished
  product. You want to record the information
  accurately and clearly. Mistakes made at this
  point can be hard to catch later, and they can
  ruin your document.
• You want to use your sources responsibly. You
  don't want to plagiarize unintentionally.

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Advice for Paraphrasing Accurately

• Study the original until you understand it
  thoroughly.
• Rewrite the relevant portions of the original.
• Title the information so that you'll be able to
  identify its subject at a glance.
• Include the author's last name, a short title of
  the article or book, and the page number of the
  original.

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Kinds of Summaries Found in Most Long Technical
Documents

• a letter of transmittal that provides an overview
  of the document
• an abstract, a brief technical summary
• an executive summary, a brief nontechnical
  summary directed to the manager
• a conclusion that draws together a complicated
  discussion

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Advice for Summarizing

• Read the passage carefully several times.
• Underline key ideas.
• Combine key ideas.
• Check your draft against the original for
  accuracy and emphasis.
• Record the bibliographic information carefully.

27
Look for information that is

• accurate
• unbiased
• comprehensive
• appropriately technical
• current
• clear

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Criteria to Evaluatefor Print and Online Sources

• authorship
• publishing body
• knowledge of the literature
• accuracy and verifiability of the information
• timeliness